The late Detroit Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell on one of his stops at the Battle Creek Enquirer in 2008.

Two years ago this week longtime Detroit Tiger announcer Ernie Harwell died at the age of 92.

Like the Don McLean song, it was the day baseball died - at least baseball on the radio.

Of course, baseball is alive and well and fans in Michigan are as excited about it as ever as their Detroit Tigers have a team that could make the playoffs.

But in terms of baseball on the radio - when Ernie Harwell was involved - it was as part of the summer in Michigan as tulips in Holland, sand on the beaches of Lake Michigan or watching classic cars cruise down the streets of Marshall or Battle Creek.

I still will listen to the Tigers on the radio, to get the score of the game. But I am not spending my evenings there tuned to the dial. That part of my life is, unfortunately, dead.

Ernie was appointment listening for generations of Tigers fans. He had a 55-year career in baseball on radio and started doing Tiger games in 1960 before signing off for the last time in 2002. Having the Tigers on the radio meant you invited another friend to the Saturday afternoon cookout - Harwell's voice served as the soundtrack of the summer - same as crickets in the woods and kids playing in the yard.

And if you you were faced with a long road trip in the car, if you were lucky it would come on a late August night on the way to the Upper Penninsula. As the sun went down, it would be you behind the wheel and Ernie coming out of the radio. As the trip continued, you could only hope for extra innings so the song of the summer would continue to come out of your car speakers and keep you company under the clear night sky.

If you remember, and I hope you do, it wasn't just Ernie that was along for the ride, or joining you at the beach through your radio - it was all his friend. It was that man from Owosso, catching the foul ball, and the house on the side of the road.

As two years have blown by, I already fear that the memory of Ernie has diminished. And if that has happened in that time, where are we going to be two years from now. Will future Tiger fans be able to appreciate what fans of Harwell are talking about, or will they give us blank stares.

I was lucky enough to take my kids to the last game Harwell went to, when he said farewell to the fans at Comerica Park. Do they fully understand why that night was important? I'm not sure. But they do realize it meant something to their father and that was good enough for them.

In the world of ESPN highlights and minute-by-minute changes online on your favorite sports or news website, having an appreciation for an announcer, who is telling a story, and not screaming at you, is rare.

Instead of kids waiting up until the 11 p.m. SportsCenter to watch 25 highlights in the first 30 minutes of the show, many of us were in bed by that time, but still wide awake as Harwell spoke to us through a small radio under our pillow.

It is something that has been lost in our society and Harwell, along with others from his era like Vin Scully, were diamond gems that are slowly being put away in the attic of our minds, collecting dust.

And that's too bad.

I miss Ernie Harwell.

I miss what he meant to my childhood. I miss what he meant to me as a young man as I grew an even greater passion for the sports world and I miss the way he personified summer and baseball at 'The Corner' and in my backyard.

It has been two years since Ernie Harwell passed away, but in some ways I am still feeling the loss and I probably always will.

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Bill Broderick: Two years since passing of Harwell, voice of Tigers baseball

It's been two years and I can still hear that voice under my pillow. Two years ago this week longtime Detroit Tiger announcer Ernie Harwell died at the age of 92. Like the Don McLean song, it was the